


Cyclops: In The Words Of His Followers

by Mortalfinlay



Category: New Mutants, New X-Men: Academy X, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Gen, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 19:17:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17229683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mortalfinlay/pseuds/Mortalfinlay
Summary: The man known as Scott Summers is one of the most divisive figures in the modern world. Many books, films and tv shows have tried unpacking the story of this incredible man to find what made him tick, but all have fallen short. Join us in this stunning new documentary as we interview those closest to Scott and attempt to build up a picture of who he was before his life was tragically ended.





	Cyclops: In The Words Of His Followers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NotQuiteHydePark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotQuiteHydePark/gifts).



> This is supposed to be an in-universe documentary created after the events of Extinction prior to Scott's return. I've made some assumptions with character ages and situations but otherwise this can more or less fit into 616 continuity. Special thanks to Nir for helping me with Hank's dialogue, he is surprisingly hard to write!

_(Fade into a phone camera recording of **Scott Summers, 39,** outside the Capitol Building, addressing mutantkind)_

**Scott:** My name is Scott Summers and not long ago in the press, in a fit of frustration, I called for mutant revolution. Revolution!

_(The phone recording fades out, as the narrator starts speaking, his speech punctuated by pictures of Scott in hospital, Cyclops leading the X-Men, a blurry photo of Scott having gone Dark Phoenix standing on the beach, finishing with a still of Scott creating an X with his forearms)_

**Narrator:** _(V.O.)_ Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops, long-term leader of the X-Men is one of the most divisive political figures in recent history, and one with no shortage of fans and critics. His personal journey from survivor to leader to murderer to revolutionary is one that has been told by many people in the past few years. With the incredibly popular book “Cyclops: Martyr or Maniac?” and the deeply introspective film “Life Behind Ruby Quartz”, more insight has been given into the life of this complex man. This film intends to add to that insight, through the words of the people who knew him best, and try to answer the question: Who was Scott Summers?

**Emma:** _(V.O.)_ Scott Summers was the only man I've ever truly loved.

_(Cut to **Emma Frost, 39,** sat in a plush beautiful room belonging to the Hellfire Club. She is dressed surprisingly modestly in a white shirt and black trousers, her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. A text box appears at the bottom of the screen reading: Emma Frost - Scott's ex-girlfriend)_

**Emma:** When you look like this, you get men, and women, falling in love with you more times a week than you have time for. And I may entertain them, but I never feel anything for them, not really. But with Scott, it was… different. He clearly loved and appreciated how I looked, but that was never what he loved me for. The first time we met, we were on opposite sides, he the X-Men, me the Hellfire Club. The first time he told me he loved me, we were in a ship on an alien planet. Our relationship was never a typical love affair. We didn't meet at a party or in a coffee shop, we didn't fall in love standing in the rain. But I fell in love with that stubborn confusing man because when he looked at me, he didn't see “The White Queen” or “Emma Frost”, he saw me.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ Is that why you stood by his side during the Phoenix Crisis?

**Emma:** _(Sighs)_ “The Phoenix Crisis”? Is that what we’re calling it now? I stood by his side because I trusted him and we both were trying to do what was right. As time went on, things didn't go as planned, yes, but our intentions were correct, something humanity is very happy to ignore unless it benefits them. Look at it this way, Scott Summers was given near unlimited power and the first thing he did was try and help the people who needed it. Could you say the same of our government? Of any government? ….That's what I thought.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ What about the flooding of Wakanda by Namor?

**Emma:** _(Glares)_ Namor's actions are his own.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ What do you say to allegations that you were romantically involved with the Sub-Mariner at the time?

**Emma:** _(Standing up and moving away)_ This interview is over.

_(Cut to **Kitty Pryde, 28,** sat behind a desk in the Xavier School. Her brown hair is cut short, she is wearing a black shirt and jacket. A framed photo on her desk depicts a much younger Kitty, hair curled, wearing the classic black and yellow uniform, standing in front of the original school building. A text box appears at the bottom of the screen reading: Katherine Pryde “Shadowcat” - Scott's teammate)_

**Kitty:** When we first met, me and Scott weren't super close. I didn't dislike him, but you know, I was 14, and he was in his 20s. He was an authority figure, I was a teenager. And then of course I wound up in Britain, founding Excalibur. It wasn't until he asked me to come back to teach that I really knew the man.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ Do you think he was a superhero or a supervillain?

**Kitty:** _(Raises an eyebrow)_ I don't think he was a “super” anything. People say this all the time, try to class mutants especially, as supers. We didn't get our powers through magic or accident. It's just our genes. You don't call a bird super for being able to fly. So no, I don't think he was a superhero nor a supervillain. I just think he was a good man.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ Is that why you changed sides and joined his revolution?

**Kitty:** I joined his revolution because I saw what he was doing and realised that someone was finally doing something, someone wasn't taking it lying down. _(She smirks)_ I guess I'm still a bit anti-authority in my heart.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ It has nothing to do with the rumours surfacing about you and the currently MIA Miss Rasputin?

**Kitty:** _(Shifting slightly in her seat, uncomfortably)_ Can we get back to Scott please?

_(Cut to **Warren Worthington III, 39,** blond hair tousled, a messy black suit with holes for his large white wings to jut out of. He is draped over a sofa. A textbox along the bottom reads: Warren Worthington III “Angel” - Scott's oldest friend. As he speaks, photos of the original 5 X-Men appear on screen.)_

**Warren:** When I first joined the school, I was only the second student. It was just me and Scott. Sure, there was the Professor, and sometimes Dr MacTaggert, but mostly it was just me and him. In the beginning, we didn't get on in the slightest. Why would we? He was the poor orphan, I the rich son of a businessman. _(He laughs shaking his head)_ God, I was such a brat back then. We just didn't mix at all. We never fought physically, but there was some tension between us. Then one time, I was flying back to the school, with this case of beer I was not old enough to have bought in one hand. And I saw him, sat on the roof. _(His smile fades and he seems to be looking into the distance)_ I don't know what possessed me, pity or loneliness? But I landed on the roof next to him, cracked open the case and began to drink. We were silent for what felt like hours. And then I offered him a beer, he took it and it was like the floodgates had opened. He started telling me about his childhood, about the coma, about his brother, all of it. It was the first time I'd seen him be.. be _vulnerable_ , I guess? So I talked back, told him about my time at boarding school, how the wings had emerged, how I'd covered them up, all of it. And it was like we finally understood each other. We stopped being Scott Summers or Warren Worthington and became Scott and Warren. We'd sit out drinking on the roof a fair bit in the early days. We still did it a bit as we grew up, but it wasn't the same after… _(He glances down at his hands as if checking the colour of his skin)_ Anyway, one day he said something that always stayed with me, even though it was the talk of a half drunk.  
“Warren, teach me how to fly.”

_(Cut to **Noriko Ashida, 20,** blue hair cut messily short, a green tube top and black jeans clinging to her. She is sat on her bed in her room, looking down at the silver metal gauntlets that cover her hands. The textbox reads: Noriko Ashida “Surge” - Scott's former student)_

**Noriko:** Professor Summers. A good man and a good leader, someone you'd want on your side in a firefight. But to me and the people I care about, he's a failure. I came to the Xavier School because I was told it was a safe space for me to learn to control my powers. Now look at me. _(She holds your arms up, showing off the gauntlets she wears)_ I have to wear these things all the time, otherwise I won't blow up and short out an entire city. That's not me learning to control my powers, that's me being made to repress it. As for it being “a safe space”? _(She gives a harsh barking laugh, full of bitterness)_ Professor Summers promised us that he and the rest of the X-Men would protect us. But where was he when a bus full of students blew up? When the school got raided by Purifiers? Where were any of them? People died. Kids died. My friends. Brian Cruz. Maxx Jordan. Laurie Collins. Jay Guthrie. And that's only four of them. They were just kids. That's all. Just kids. Death came to the Xavier School and Professor Summers promised to protect us from it. He failed. _(She takes a breath, wiping her eyes slightly.)_ And I get it, people die, we're mutants, we're always going to be a target for their hate, but it's not fair. It's just not fair.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ Thank you for talking to us, Miss Ashida, we're sorry for your loss.

_(Noriko nods gently and bites her lip, holding back the pain. Cut to **Hank McCoy, 41,** hanging upside down in his laboratory. Small glasses are held in place by one of his large blue bestial hands, and he is wearing a brown suit that looks out of place upside down. He drops down to the ground and begins speaking. A textbox appears reading: Doctor Hank McCoy “Beast” - Scott's close friend)_

**Hank:** _(Sternly)_ Cyclops was wrong. I should make that clear now. I see children walking around wearing frankly ostentatious clothes with “Cyclops Was Right” emblazoned across it, most likely created by companies simply capitalising off the political statement, with no thought to what said statement means. I love Scott, I became the man I am today fighting alongside him. He was my brother, or the closest thing to it I ever had. But he was, and always will be, wrong in what he did and the actions he took. Mutantkind was experiencing more than enough of an image problem following the Phoenix Crisis, with the public loss of Professor Xavier, and yet Scott breaks out of prison and takes it upon himself to start fights with the Avengers and act as mutantkind’s lone protector. It was unacceptable. I feared that the Phoenix Force had addled his mind beyond repair, I looked upon the visage of one of my dearest and oldest friends, and I didn’t recognise him. I didn’t recognise the man who I had abandoned the Avengers for, the man I had trusted since we were mere children play acting heroics.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ What do you say to people who call you a hypocrite or irresponsible for the way you manipulated the timestream?

**Hank:** _(Sighs)_ While I will be the first to admit the blunder I made in bringing our past selves to the present, it is vital to also recognise that it was an accomplishment in how advantageous it was to the mutant race. _(Chuckles sadly)_ Which I am sure is the same excuse Scott would use to justify all of his plots and arrangements, were he here. I do not deny that my decision to meddle with the timestream simply to prove myself right was at times foolish and dangerous, but I urge you: Do not think that the steps I took were the work of a mad scientist trying to shape the world to his vision, instead see them as the work of a desperate but foolhardy man trying to bring his friend back from the brink.

_(Cut to **Jean Grey, 39,** red hair down to her upper back, leaning against a desk in the Xavier School , she is unusually dressed down for the occasion, wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a green hoodie that leaves her stomach exposed. A textbox appears on screen: Jean Grey - Scott’s ex-wife.)_

**Jean:** People always ask me who I would have sided with, had I been...around at the time. My ex. Or a man I once loved. I’ll leave you to figure out which one is which. _(Smiles painfully)_ It’s always that. Holding onto Scott or Logan as if I’m a teenage girl, picking a prom date. Acting as if it was a popularity contest instead of a matter of ideology. And I never know what to tell them. I don’t agree with what Scott did, but I believe his need to help people was at the core of his organisation. I’ve had people suggest to me that maybe it was Emma Frost manipulating him to become more extreme, and I ask, why must you insist on pitting people against each other? I admit, when I first discovered them, I was angry, of course I was, I felt betrayed. But watching what happened when I was gone, I think Emma and Scott needed each other, and to simply play us against each other over a dead man is insulting to both us and Scott.

_(Cut to the room where Warren was interviewed. The door behind the sofa opens and **Kurt Wagner, 34,** sticks his head through. His blue hair slightly curled, and his beard groomed. He is wearing a red woollen jumper and navy jeans.)_

**Kurt:** Pardon me, I heard you are making a film about Scott, ja?

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ That’s correct.

**Kurt:** Would you mind if I read a poem for him? I always tried getting him into the arts but alas, he was too much a tactician for most poetry. Yet one I showed him stuck with him, and I think he would have liked me to read it.

**Narrator:** _(O.S.)_ Of course, of course, come in.

_(Kurt enters, sitting on the sofa where Warren had been. He removes a piece of paper from his pocket. A textbox appears reading: Kurt Wagner “Nightcrawler” - Scott’s former teammate. As Kurt reads, we cut to each of the interviewees, from Jean back to Emma, finally finishing on a close up of Scott’s grave and a sweeping wide shot of the mansion.)_

**Kurt:** _(V.O.)_ Do not stand at my grave and weep,  
I am not there. I do not sleep.  
I am a thousand winds that blow,  
I am the diamond glints on snow.  
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.  
I am the gentle autumn rain.  
When you awaken in the morning’s hush,  
I am the swift uplifting rush,  
Of quiet birds in circled flight.  
I am the soft stars that shine at night.  
Do not stand at my grave and cry;  
I am not there. I did not die.


End file.
